Corned Beef

After some trial and error I have landed on a way that works really well,though the steps seem a little odd. To start the corned beef is actually simmered for 1 hour, with water covering the meat and the juice & seasoning packet from the corned beef added (I know. Boiling meat? Really? Just bare with me). After the hour of simmering the beef is dried off and seasoned with your favorite brisket rub (in my case that is a salt/pepper/garlic blend). The next step is throwing the beef on the smoker, at 275°, for 1 hour. Next, the beef is wrapped in foil, with either butter… beef broth… or beer, and put back into the smoker for 1 more hour. Finally, once done on the smoker, everything is wrapped in a towel and left to rest for at least 30 minutes (longer is better).

Temp - 275°

Time - 3.5+ hours

Results - Best corned beef I have ever had!

Pork Belly Burnt Ends

These are one of my favorite things to make due to their wow factor in presentation and taste. To prep the belly is cut up into 1.5 inch cubes and seasoned on all sides with our favorite chipotle rub and a whatever butt rub we happen to have at the time. These seasoned cubes are then placed on a rack and smoked for 2 hours. The next step involves placing all the cubes into a foil pan with a stick of sliced up unsalted butter and approximately 1/4 cup of brown sugar and/or honey. The pan is then covered with foil and smoked for 2 more hours. Once the time is up the foil covering is removed & half a bottle of the BBQ sauce of the day is poured into the pan (some of the liquid in the pan can be removed prior to adding the BBQ sauce, depending on how thin you want the end result and how much liquid is present). Finally, they are put back on the smoker for another 15 minutes or so, uncovered, to warm the BBQ sauce and get a slight caramelization going. The end result is best described as meat candy!

Temp - 300°

Cooked by time but pieces checked to ensure they made it over 145°

Spatchcocked Turkey

With Thanksgiving just a few weeks away it was time to try out Turkey on the smoker. While I have done whole chicken many times, this was my first attempt at a whole (15 pound) turkey. For prep I spatchcocked the bird and patted the whole thing dry then seasoned the inside with a garlic based poultry seasoning. Once the inside cavity was seasoned I flipped it over, injected it with a Creole Butter injection, and seasoned it heavily with the same garlic poultry seasoning followed by our favorite chipotle rub.

Temp - 300°

Smoked until an internal temperature of 165° was reached in the breast. (Only about 4 hours)

This turkey was as moist as any I have ever fried and the skin came out much better than I expected (after years of frying a turkey this was where I expected this one to fall short). In the end it was a success but now I am wondering how it would go to smoke it whole for a couple hours then finish it frying like we normally do… a best of both worlds kind of situation… I guess, more to come!

Reverse Seared Smoked Poterhouse

What do you do when someone tells you they have a local rub that is simply amazing that they then send to you? First you get curious… then you receive the rub and you bust out some 1.5 inch thick Porterhouses… finally you eat the porterhouse and become rather jealous that the rub is not local to YOU! For this I followed the same steps I normally do for my Tomahawks and they turned out so so good.

Temp - 300°

Smoked until an internal temperature of 120°

Once the internal temperature was reached I took it over to the propane grill, which was as hot as it would go, and did a quick sear on each side.

After searing it was left to rest for about 15 minutes before cutting.

Reverse Seared Smoked Tomahawk Ribeye

This might be the most flashy thing I have done so far on the smoker. The shear size (3.5 pounds) of the steak makes this a show stopper and it is rather straightforward to make. After dinner the wife made a comment that I am never allowed to make a steak any other way from now on… it is hard to argue with her!! For this one I used Weavers Dutch Country Steak Dust seasoning:

Temp - 300°

Smoked until an internal temperature of 120°

Once the internal temperature was reached I took it over to the propane grill, which was as hot as it would go, and did a quick sear on each side.

After searing it was left to rest for about 15 minutes before cutting.

Beef Ribs (multi bone short rib)

These are now my favorite things to make on the smoker and they also happen to be one of the absolute easiest things to make. Surprisingly quick and very hands off once they are on! Seasoning on these is great because it is a store bought rub that really works out great. Rub was simply a heavy coating of Weber Sweet Cracked Pepper Dry Rub seasoning & an additional coating of coarse black pepper.

Temp - 260°

After about 2 hours add a probe to start keeping track of internal temp.

Cook until an internal temp of 205°

Remove from smoker and let sit for just 15 minutes before cutting.

Smoked Prime Rib Roast

For this one I had the butcher cut & prep the rib roast by cutting off the bone and having the bones tied back on. Seasoning of the roast was butter mixed with garlic pepper seasoning and salt. This was much more simple than I expected and one of the best things to come off of the smoker yet!

Temp - 250° until an internal temp of 115°

Boosted temp up to 400° to help set up the bark

Cooked to internal temp of 125° & let rest, covered in foil, for half an hour.

Baby Back Ribs - Hot and Fast

Used a modified 2-2-1 method for these but wanted them done a little quicker than normal. Used simple rub of Quaker Steak and Lube Chipotle seasoning:

Temp 325°

2 hours on smoke

1 hour wrapped (brown sugar, butter, and additional rub added)

30 minutes unwrapped with sauce

Garlic Kielbasa thrown on the smoker during the last hour just because there was space available!

Trying something new for the site

Since I have found Smoking/Grilling as hobby I find myself trying many different ways of doing things. The downside to always experimenting like that is losing track of how I did certain Smokes. To remedy that issue I am going to attempt to post each of my successful meals here, along with the how of the cook. Hopefully this will create a repository that I can reference in the future and share with others, so they can give things a try!